Moazzam Begg complains of ‘malicious’ and ‘vindictive’ detention

During the three years after 9/11 that he wore his chains and orange jumpsuit, the most wretched moment for Moazzam Begg came after his first interrogation at Bagram in Afghanistan.

Hooded, his arms and legs chained behind him so that his spine arched backwards, he received a visit from the men who had just told him he would never see his children again. They kicked him in the head.

Thirteen years on, after his latest period of incarceration, Begg says that it was not difficult to comprehend why this was happening. He says it was not difficult to comprehend why he was violently treated. “I understood where the Americans were coming from, at Bagram and Guantánamo,” he says. “I understood that they were reacting to 9/11.”